[0803] The Divine Comedy, Page 1
└ posted on Thursday, 14 July 2016, by Novil
- Sign: LEVEL 2 – Dep. for Chance and Destiny
- Angel: Here’s the record on Sandra North. You know, the girl with the talking raccoon. In this photo, she’s kissing her boyfriend Cloud.
- Thomas J. God: Aww, how cute.
- Angel: Our department decided that Sandra has to die next Saturday. Cloud will never get over the loss of the love of his life and will become a criminal drunkard.
- Thomas J. God: Excellent.
- Angel: If you could please sign on this page.
- Thomas J. God: Here you go.
- The Devil: Why the heck are you such a gigantic asshole?
- Thomas J. God: Pure self-loathing.
Aw shit…
I’m just wondering if this is Canon, seeing as it has an entirely different cover.
Thomas J. God? I thought that was Adam Weishaupt. Guess the hair should have tipped me off.
Even more proof that I am not Thomas J. God. I would never sign off on this! I mean sure, everyone has to die eventually, but Sandra? When it’s her time, it has to be while doing something heroic, or at the end of a long, productive life. And Cloud has such potential! It’s sad to see it wasted.
That said, this is the inciting incident of a story arc. In story arcs, things happen (really!). I’m eager to see what unfolds. I like how they’re playing cards in the “Dep. for Chance and Destiny.”
@ Xezlec:
I guess time for a bit of education in this regard (Sorry, actually got my minor in this kind of thing and don’t get to use it that often as most Christians seem to not like their actually written scriptures but prefer their oral traditions instead which have gotten to the point of not matching up hardly at all.)
Christian oral tradition likes to to share that idea that Satan is the enemy of God, but it’s not actually backed by Christianity’s written mythology. According to their myths, Satan is basically gods buddy, and they constantly play games against eachother (See their written myth’s book of Job for example). A decent comparison (that actually as biblical backing). Satan *is* supposed to be humanity’s enemy, but not God’s. He’s kind of like a prosecuting attorney and humanity is the accused and God is the judge. Satan isn’t supposed to be god’s enemy until the distant future during the Christian apocalypse myth, during which Satan quits his role as prosecuting attorney, and takes arms against God while God is obliterating humans (It’s not clear why he rebels in their apocalypse myth, though one could deduce that Satan has actually come to sympathize with humans to the point of being willing to abandon his Divine mandate)
If you go through with that plot, I’ma write a trojan or rootkit that will bitslap you router and every device that uses it!!
Its like If I can already feel the plot twist
Wow, a literal divine comedy.
Something tells me the deal Larisa makes with the devil is going to be her taking Sandra’s place for the death. I hope I’m wrong though, because I don’t want Larisa to die. Then again I don’t want anyone to die, so nyeh.
@ Thomas J. Lee:
I have a friend named Thomas J. Brockhoff, and the first time Thomas J. God was mentioned, I immediately started laughing because I couldn’t see him in the position at the time.
Now I kinda can and it scares me.
@Feathersnow
Poe’s law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law) or similar. Sarcasm is hard to detect on the internet.
Is it finally time for Luna’s plot device to come into effect???
She totally deserves another ark, she was a great character.
Question: Why is God is given “Thomas J.” as his first and middle names? “J.” probably stands for “Jesus”, but I’m stumped on “Thomas”.
MarqFJA87 wrote:
I dunno, both the eye motif from the dollar bill and the “Thomas J.” suggest, to me, the idea that it is a god shaped by (or seen through the lens of) the perception of the American people. Except of course, they think of him as benign, while this scene touches on the paradox of (completely undeserved) human suffering.
We need the Devil to save the day.
Irony found.
I do hope Sandra doesn’t actually die…I had a hard enough times with Julian’s untimely demise in “Misty Mouse” and Bridgette’s attempted suicide in “Bridgette’s Belly” alone…
Knowing Larisa, her deal might not be to take Sandra’s place, but for God-Slaying weapons to take Thomas J. God on…
‘Department’ under new management after this.
The devil hears a who?@ Vitor Cruz:
@ Unmaker:
I mean I know, but I compared this “ending” to the lamest possible ending to another famous webcomic (which is still on-going), in such a way as to imply it was a notorious real event. I thought that should have been a clue that I wasn’t serious.
But, as everyone keeps telling me, I am not as funny as I think I am (who is?)
Hehe, I was honestly joking about the idea of Larissa being reincarnated as one of Woo’s kids…. but wouldn’t it be a hoot if that actually DID happen? Remember the kit Larissa was trying to corrupt???
As was done in buffy the vampire slayer, when buffy died and was revived, we have the technology and knowledge to bring people back, so Sandra may die, but not for long enough to be dead.
The writers could push the the knowledge of life saving first aid resusitation techniques that everyone can learn.
Oh, and I just realised: God does not play dice…
Feathersnow wrote:
It helps to overuse ” 😛 “, italics, and
strike throughs.Maybe add a [JK] or [sarcasm mode] for the lulz. 🙂We’ve all made the mistake of typing or touch-screening something that gets completely misunderstood. I was pretty sure you were being sarcastic, but a lot of readers are concerned about this arc.
Mistwraith wrote:
I really like that possibility! Even if it isn’t in this arc, it’s a good idea. The comments section would probably have a huge debate over the correct method for CPR. 🙂
Does the Name “Thomas J. God” have anything to do with
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Dodd ?
Well, this is gonna put a bit of a snag in the title of this comic, won’t it?@ Xezlec:
“Satan has been the best friend,
of the chrurch from start to end.
With his help it has for years,
ruled our lives with guilts and fears.”
IE communism@ Kek:
Xezlec wrote:
Besides, the only way it could really be bad is if the story was instead about say Richard on the verge of death and Sandra having to trade her relationship with Cloud to The Devil in order to save him*, because Novil feels that her relationship with Cloud removes any tension from her life and makes her seem too old for readers to identify with her.
No, I’m not using elements of the strip to make a jab at a particular superhero comic storyline. Why do you ask?:-)
*After spending One More Day with her boyfriend of course.
@ MarqFJA87:
It’s generically white.
Also, “Thomas” is a biblical name.
Funny it would be that one, because Thomas was the one that doubted that Jesus had risen.
Anyone else remember strip 668? It will save Sandra.
If said department has bureacrazy, it could be “a while”
This is going to make a interesting storyline.
@ Darkarma:
I get it
@ Xezlec:
Actually Satan/lucifer/whatever was the supposedly the Tester of Faith before his Fall. (Hence his bet in the book of Job).
This guy looks like a cross between Doctor Light and Bill Cipher.
@ GardeBlaze:
I don’t like this at all. It feels wrong and anti religious. The gods gave the man Sandra as a gift, a daughter, and now god is taking her away? This is anti religious. don’t you think?
@ Shadow:
I agree with you on that.
@ Charles Bowditch:
Me too
@ Feathersnow:
I agree with you on that.
@ Rex Vivat:
Sandra never actually took delivery on the drink though. It appeared before her and she clearly recognizes the value in not completing the deal when her comment never meant to be serious was actually answered.
1. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
2. God is all powerful
3. Therefore…
@ Rex Vivat:
That is right. This is a bad idea.
@ Nightmask:
She should get help to stop the crazy god from killing her.
@ Thomas J. Lee:
I would never sign too.
@ Falling Star:
Your right. This is not good for the comic.
@ Feathersnow:
I think you are right about this. This is the worst conclusion.
@ AuPlauSe:
You can respond to multiple people in the same post.
@ Xezlec:
The book of Job illustrates that Satan has limited access to Heaven, though it was more like a former employee going in to taunt his ex boss than the buddy-buddy situation shown here.
That being said, this comic had a good run. A few of them were on the verge of losing me, but much like I stopped watching The Simpsons when an episode made God out to be a servant of Satan, this particular one, with its characterization of God, has done what previous ones were unable to.
Some parting advice: That “Top Web Comics” link implies that popularity is important to you. You throw away a lot of potential when you go for a cheap laugh from one demographic at the expense of another.
@ dwmitch:
lol
dwmitch wrote:
Lol. I doubt it. Come back soon and read the rest of the arc.
The all seeing eye is not American in origin, it is a Masonic symbol. The use of the ASE on the $1 bill and elsewhere in the symbolism of the USA is due to the fact that many of the founding fathers of the US were freemasons. Freemasonry exists the world over and is a religion that hides much of the facts of its belief behind secrets, misleading stories, and oaths of submitting to death if a freemason ever reveals any of the pertinent “thruths.” One of these is that the God of freemasonry is NOT the God of the Bible, only learned after penetrating many many levels of “deeper truths.” Oliver has demonstrated an almost encyclopedic knowledge of mythologies of the world, and it would be hard for me to believe he has included the All Seeing Eye over his god character without knowledge of the symbolism he has employed. I have no idea what he is trying to do here, and I will reserve judgement until I see more. No I am not a Freemason. No I have not taken a death oath to protect its secrets. I have no idea if I’ve endangered myself by revealing what I have. It would be easy for any freemason to tell you all I have been misinformed as to the true nature of the hidden truths. Poppycock.